UK Man Barely Avoids Jail Time for Racist Tweets About Soccer Star Mo Salah

A 32-year-old United Kingdom man named Gary Hyland who has apparently made a series of racist tweets on August 6th about Egyptian soccer (referred to as football in Europe) star Mo Salah, was arrested by police after being reported about the tweets.

The BBC reported:

The tweets were reported to Merseyside Police who arrested the Everton fan at his home.

When asked to hand over his phone Hyland claimed it was lost, but officers found it under a cushion. He also became obstructive while he was being taken into custody.

The initial report from the BBC was on August 9th. This morning we find out about the results in Liverpool Magistrates’ Court, in a new report also from the BBC.

Gary Hylan has been ordered to complete a course “promoting human dignity”. He was also given 200 hours of unpaid work, or “community service” as referred to in the United States.

He was handed a 6-week jail sentence but that has been suspended, likely pending that he completes the other items he has been ordered to complete and stays out of trouble. He admitting to obstructing initially when he tried to say that he didn’t have the device the tweets were made on, but it was later found. He also admitted to making racially and religiously aggravated tweets. The prosecution said Mo Salah’s Muslim faith was targeted and the online pestering had become increasingly abusive.

It does not appear from the two BBC articles that there were any credible threats of violence in addition to the abusive comment made. Racism and hatred are unacceptable but it is also unclear if he did anything that, if in the United States, would have been construed as illegal.

Mo Salah or ‘Mohamed Salah’ has been in the limelight for other reasons too, and Becky Anderson, “Host of @CNNConnect and CNN Abu Dhabi Managing Editor” (as reported on her verified Twitter account) has done an interview with him as seen in a video posted on August 19th. Apparently he was criticized after defending a team-mate who was accused of sexual harassment, saying he deserves a second chance.

The Soccer star who was targeted by the Twitter ranter Gary Hyland appeared in a CNN interview to discuss sexual harassment less than two weeks ago.

SEE MO SALAH SPEAK IN VIDEO TWEET BELOW:

"The most important thing is the fear. The fear is not healthy for anyone. So we have to fix that."

Liverpool footballing star Mohamed Salah talks to @BeckyCNN about the issue of sexual harassment and what change is needed.

The full interview is here: https://t.co/T7qIFLN1l7 pic.twitter.com/LLxE7g8Mnm

— CNN (@CNN) August 19, 2019